Over Here Memories
NextBack"Yes we have no Bananas" went the ridiculous lyrics of a pop song of that period which may well have reflected the paucity of that particular fruit but in contrast tins of Libby’s mixed fruit were for a time anyway, quite plentiful. Once a week a friend and I would rendezvous with two American soldiers in the ear park behind the Select cinema, 'Select' by the way was something of a misnomer, it's more popular name was 'The Laugh and Scratch'! These two coloured American GI's with bulging eyes and flashing white teeth were on a weekly rations run and would give us tinned fruit, tinned eggs, Wrigley’s chewing gum, uniform badges and 'Sir Walter Raleigh' cigarettes, constantly inquiring if we knew any older girls or had sisters. My father thought that the Walter Raleigh cigarettes, only four to a pack were terrible but he would break them open, blend them with a Woodbine cigarette and re-roll them. My favourite gift was American comics with their distinctive aroma and their fantastic characters, Dick Tracy, Blondie, Dagwood Bumstead and the Ozark bumpkins, Lil Abner and Daisy May. Although I loved the Beano characters, Desperate Dan and Corky the cat, it seemed as if they really were bumpkins compared to Lil Abners swollen biceps and Daisy Mays tight bottom enhancing shorts. One day we waited and waited for the Americans, they did not turn up, they and thousands of others throughout the United Kingdom just seemed to disappear overnight, the invasion of Europe was underway and the prospect of peace was becoming a reality.
